Fire and Rock
by ZuzuRU
Summary: What happened in Ba Sing Se during the Fire Nation's Occupation of the great city? This story gives you a glimpse into the experience from both sides: Through the eyes of Zak, a young Lieutenant in the Fire Nation Army, and Kaci a headstrong citizen of Ba Sing Se. This war and occupation brings more than just the two worlds together, it will also bring fire and rock together.


**This story takes place during the Fire Nation occupation of Ba Sing Se after Azula and the Dai Li's Coup leading up to and including the liberation of the city by the Order of the White Lotus on the day of Sozin's Comet.**

Zak wound down that evening in a bar on the south side of the merchant thoroughfare of Ba Sing Se. At a table in the corner of the bar, he sipped his mijiu slowly, sure to be deliberate in his intake. Today, Zak's platoon of firebenders had threatened two young children their family. The children were out in a restricted section of the Lower Ring after dark looking for their lost goat dog, Speckles. Zak only knew of the name because it's all the kids were screaming about as his firebending soldiers grabbed and threatened the kids until they confessed where they lived with tears in their eyes and snot in their noses. They delivered them to their home, four blocks away, their lost pet still nowhere to be found. Their residence was on the second floor of a dingy apartment building with broken windows and rickety stairs. Zak and two of his men who were in firebender uniforms and holding the children barged through the family's doorway. Zak told the family, "If I ever catch them in the restricted zone again, I will have my men firebend on site." Zak brandished a swipe of fire which caused the family to reel back in fear. He about faced and walked out followed by his soldiers and a door slam. The kids were holding onto their parents, still crying. At the bar, Zak takes a long hard sip of his mijiu. He wanted something stronger. Zak gets up and makes his way to the counter, passing his rowdy soldiers who were also winding down after another day of patrolling the Lower Ring. Zak and his platoon liked this bar. It served Fire Nation soldiers with no problems. Of course, everywhere in the city was required to serve the occupying Fire Nation soldiers, but this bar did it without any issues, side eyes, or other drama. In fact, the owner of the bar seemed eager to take their money and was grateful for the increased business. _There's always someone happy to profit from war_ Zak amusingly thought to himself. He orders a lychee nut baijiu and heads back to his table to think, not even paying attention to his soldiers two of which now had Ba Sing Se prostitutes on their laps. "Hey, Lieutenant! Why don't you come and enjoy the action?" shouted one of the soldiers. Zak just raised his hand, gave a light smile, and headed to his table of solitude with his drink. The soldiers erupted in light-hearted jeers. Zak sat back down at his table, his baiju in a small dragon decorated porcelain cup held in front of him with both hands. He contemplated for a moment as he looked across the segregated bar, Earth Kingdom patrons being sure to remain far away from his Fire Nation soldiers. He glanced at his soldiers, who were getting rowdier by the minute, and his gaze moved towards one of his corporals getting rough with a prostitute. He stared with a solemn expression, not to the notice of his soldiers, paused and brought his cup to his mouth taking a long, willful sip, the strength of the sweetly flavored alcohol going down his throat with purpose.

Zak is a twenty-two year old First Lieutenant in the Fire Nation Army stationed in Ba Sing Se during the Fire Nation Forces occupation and is an exceptional firebender. In terms of his physical build he is actually fairly short, 5'5", fit stature, amber eyes, light skin, and dirty blonde hair which are unique features compared to most who are ethnically Fire Nation. Zak is a naturally quiet and observant person, but has no issue commanding soldiers and is a natural when it comes to the military. He elicits respect from his platoon due to his own respectful personality and calm nature. Various company leaders were told to find soldiers to promote to officers prior to the deployment of Fire Nation Forces to Ba Sing Se after the coup led by Princess Azula and Prince Zuko. The military leadership knew they would need more officers to train and lead Fire Nation soldiers in their maintaining of the occupation. Zak's superior officer, Captain Ju-Long did not hesitate when choosing Zak out of the 235 soldiers in his company. And there is no reason why he would not. Outwardly, Zak is an intelligent, tactical soldier with coveted skills and patriotism, but what his fellow Army peers don't know is that Zak is ambivalent about the war and the occupation of Ba Sing Se. His quiet, respectful and observant nature ensures that he rarely speaks what's on his mind and this is what caused him to gain favor with his superior officers. Zak's national pride stems less from a love of the royal family and the "shared economic prosperity" he was indoctrinated to buy into from a young age (which Zak now understood was a propaganda transformed way of saying "war"), but rather stems from love of the culture, history, art of firebending, the national flora and fauna, the cuisine, the industrial and technological prowess, among other positive aspects of the Fire Nation culture. Zak came from a wealthy family in the Fire Nation Capital city. Zak's father Iwao was the best messenger hawk breeder in the Fire Nation. This profession is coveted and important as messenger hawks had to be bred and trained incredibly well given their purpose. His best hawks were sold to the Fire Nation military and wealthy people all over the world for 1,000 gold pieces. Zak's mother, Azumi, was the daughter of a politician, one who directly advised Fire Lord Azulon. Zak's younger sister, Shei, was 13, and essentially training to just marry well like her mother did and have no life worries. Because he lived in the Fire Nation capital, Zak was particularly immersed in the Fire Nation propaganda used to get its citizens to join its military. Zak joined the Fire Nation Army at 17. His parents weren't particularly pleased to see their oldest child go off to war, especially given their wealth and status, but at the time it's what Zak wanted, when he was riding high on Nationalism and wanted a place to utilize his prodigious firebending skills. That feeling waned quickly as he started to see firsthand what the war entailed and the Fire Nation's true and terrible impact on the world, but again, he had real pride for his nation and his time spent in the Army had his pride shift exclusively to the positive aspects of his culture. By this point, the military was what Zak was good at, and even though he was ambivalent about the war, when you're good at something… success finds you.

More than possessing ambivalence about the war, Zak was quite worldly and actually appreciates the different cultures of the other nations, especially the Earth Kingdom. Where his peers and superiors wind down in the evenings by mocking Earth Kingdom customs and their assignments in Ba Sing Se, Zak silently marvels at the architecture, attire, fauna, gardens, cuisine, and the strength of the people. Of course, the young lieutenant could never share this with anyone. His job involved training and leading his small platoon of 31 fire nation soldiers (32 including himself) to patrol the streets of the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se, enforcing curfews, restrictions, collecting taxes, and, though this rule was not explicitly written, terrorize the citizens of the city. Zak hated this. As if the people of Ba Sing Se had not suffered enough with their city overtaken by foreign forces, their king gone, and their walls brought down by the very Dai Li agents once sworn to protect the interests of the Earth Kingdom. Zak felt that the extra doses of terror were unnecessary and cruel. As a military officer with a duty to his nation, however, he understood the need for it. The Earth Kingdom has strong people. Give them a pebble of hope, and it would soon turn into a rock slide. Zak patrolled the streets every day with members of his platoon, the "Tigerdillos," a name his soldiers came up with. Zak didn't mind for he had a quiet love for animals and tigerdillos, which are native to the Fire Nation, was certainly a cool and fitting animal for a Fire Nation Army platoon, and he and his soldiers all had a little patch with a roaring tigerdillo on their sleeves.

As a Lieutenant, Zak missed being a simple firebending grunt prior to his promotion for one major reason- the uniform. You see firebender soldiers in the Army wear dark red and black uniforms with skull-like faceplates in their spiked helmets. This frightening face plate served as a barrier between him and the outside world whenever he was doing a duty he didn't feel right doing. Now, as a lieutenant, his face exposed in his officer uniform, he felt too close to his tasks. He knew that anything terrible he did, his face would be the one that people remembered. Of course, he and his platoon weren't doing the worst of what has been going on since the start fire nation occupation. Some of these terrible acts not committed by the Tigerdillos include randomly threatening and harassing the Ba Sing Se citizens, damaging property, stealing, beating up everyone from teens to the elderly, arresting children, sexual assault, and worse- all the horrors that come with a foreign military occupation in a foreign land. Zak knew that there was a collective guilt to be had as a member of the Fire Nation Army, but he did his best to train his platoon to be good soldiers; to follow their explicit duties and commit no immoral acts. Still though, every day as he patrols the streets of the Lower Ring and saw the terror in the eyes of shopkeepers, craftsmen, residents, children, he just could not assuage his guilt.

Kaci wakes up two hours past dawn. She sets a fire underneath her water tub to warm the water which she filled the night before, bathes, puts on her baggy loose-fitting, green and brown work clothes, grabs her bag, and heads out the door of her cheap apartment to her job. She walks right down the market street of the Lower Ring as always, purchases an apple and bag of peanuts from Shu, the produce lady, and heads towards the border of the Lower Ring and the wall leading to the Agrarian zone passing scores of Fire Nation troops along the way. Suddenly, a group of non-bending Fire Nation soldiers with spears stops her and asks where she is going. "I'm going to work," she snaps. Sensing her attitude the guards decide to grill her further asking her details about her job and where she is coming from. One of the soldiers grabs her bag and searches it. Kaci is fuming inside, but knows that biting her tongue is the best way to just get to her job at this point. They take her apple and peanuts and throw her bag on the ground. "Have a nice day," the leader says with a smirk. Luckily, she only brings enough money for the apple and peanuts otherwise they would have taken that too. Unfortunately, she was now lunch-less, but was hopeful that she would be able to snag something at her place of work. She continues heading towards the wall and approaches a Fire Nation squad that stands between the Lower Ring and the Agrarian zone at the giant break in the wall caused by the Dai Li agents. Because of their masks, she can never tell if it's the same guards, but every single time they harass and threaten her when she tries to pass them and every single time she has to tell them that she works at the Ba Sing Se zoo. "Come on, can't I get some kind of pass so I don't have to keep going through this shit?" The guards don't respond to her inquiry and instead say, "No bags outside of the Lower Ring." "What? Since when is that a rule?" she says, taken aback. "Nothing that allows the transport of contraband across ring lines." She rolls her eyes and throws them the bag. "Okay, can I go now?" "Just one more thing," says the head guard as another approaches her. The masked guard in his red and black uniform, begins patting her down doing it more slowly over her chest, thighs, and butt. She angrily clenches her teeth as he does this, "A vile hippo-pig," she thought to herself. "Okay, you are free to go. Ensure you will be back in the Lower Ring by dusk." She says nothing and heads to the zoo.

Kaci is a 20 year old citizen of the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. She is an intelligent, headstrong girl with a passion for animals. In terms of her physical attributes, she is a small, but muscular girl, has brown eyes, tan skin, and dark brown to black loosely curled hair. Kaci works at the Ba Sing Se Zoo which was very recently created by Avatar Aang on a single day when he saw the deplorable conditions of the old zoo. The ten fold increase in revenue that came from the visitors which flocked to zoo's new facilities allowed the zoo owner, Kenji, to hire some extra workers and Kaci was first in line as she was one of the few patrons to visit the zoo even when it was in its run down form. She had been doing this for years, always volunteering to help Kenji. She was honored and grateful to be chosen to work at a zoo whose animals she had come to love and know well, and especially honored to work at a zoo created by the Avatar himself. However, a little over a week into her new job, the walls of Ba Sing Se were brought down by Dai Li agents after the coup and the Fire Nation Army made their way into the city. She was working that day and some of the dust and rubble from the walls made its way into the zoo and she immediately began sweeping the pathways and making sure the animals were okay, taking more care in ensuring the zoo was maintained than dwelling on what just occurred to the city she lived in for the last eleven years of her life. As she swept, she heard some weird sound in the distance, something metallic. She ran outside of the zoo's main rock wall to see the source of this sound. It was the Fire Nation's tanks, dozens of these frightening, spiked machines like she had never seen before drove right past the zoo, their harsh cacophony of metal piling into the opening of the wall. These foreign sounds frightened the animals and she felt powerless that she could do little to quell their anxiety. Next was the Fire Nation cavalry with their Komodo rhinos, and the infantry marching past the zoo on their way into the city. Kaci, someone who loved animals, couldn't help but be in awe at the Komodo Rhinos. Animals that she had only ever heard of used in stories about how the Fire Nation army used these large, frightening animals for draft purposes and to intimidate people. She wished the zoo could get one. Suddenly, she was harassed by some of the Fire Nation infantry veering off to yell at her about the soon to be imposed curfew and that she should go home immediately. She snapped back, "The zoo animals need to be fed and unless you jerks want to do it yourselves, march on," she said. The soldiers did in fact "march on," muttering some insult as they did. Kaci was a fiery young woman and one could believe that the fire nation soldiers walked away because they were actually intimidated, but the truth is that they had assignments to prepare for as they commenced their occupation and this young girl was not one of them. Kaci knew this as well, but she was serious. The animals had to be fed. She started with getting hay and cabbages for the herbivores, fish for the turtle seal, and meat for the carnivores of the zoo, the biggest one being the tigerdillo, her favorite animal. Today, a few weeks after the fall of Ba Sing Se, Kaci struggled to allocate food to the zoo's animals, a place now desolate in spite of its improvements, a callback to the grungy inner-city zoo before the Avatar changed it. Kenji, the owner, argued and fought with the Fire Nation Army every day to get a proper delivery of food and resources to the zoo. Because of the strictness over what was allowed between ring lines, it was incredibly difficult to get food for the animals, especially meat for the carnivores—which the Fire Nation claimed for themselves and their Komodo Rhinos. Kaci noticed the energy level of the tigerdillo, who she named Kian many years ago, was declining due to the reduction in its food. Kaci grew enraged with each passing day.

Kaci was from a small rural family comprised of her father, Li, and her mother, Zhen, who lived in a small farming town in the southwest of the Earth Kingdom. It was in this town where she developed her love of animals. Her family had two ostrich horses, various wooly pigs, moo-sows, turkey ducks, and a koi pond. Her parents grew uncomfortable with stories and rumors of the ever approaching Fire Nation forces. They knew it was only a matter of time before their village became occupied like so many others and their labor would be spent gathering resources for the Fire Nation. When Kaci was ten her family sold their animals, except their ostrich horses, bought a carriage and made their way as refugees to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se. Kaci was always mature for her age, and knew that what was done was best for her family, but a part of her never forgave her parents for selling the animals she grew to love, most of them to people who would not love and take care of them the way she did. When they arrived to Full Moon Bay to take the ferry which would allow them to cross East Lake and get to Ba Sing Se, they were told that personal ostrich horses were not allowed into city, at least not for those who would be living in the Lower Ring. Kaci and her parents were devastated. These animals were the last tethers they had to their farm life. At customs, members of the Earth Kingdom Army saw their healthy ostrich horses, and offered Kaci's family money for them. Kaci wanted to let them go free, but her parents had spent much of their remaining money on their journey. Given that they had no secured job in place once inside the city, they certainly needed the money (even though the Earth Kingdom Army was gypping them big time) and they had no choice. Kaci said goodbye to their ostrich horses, named Chance and Streak. The Army Captain paid her family 200 silver pieces, ensured the young girls that they would be well taken care of and continued on with their new war ostrich horses. It was at that point where it became personal for Kaci. The Fire Nation was responsible for the loss of all of the animals that became part of Kaci's life. It was not something she would soon forget. Once in the city, her family settled in. Her parents found modest work; her mother became a seamstress and her father a carpenter. Her mother helped sew ornate clothing items for wealthier members of Ba Sing Se and her father helped build apartment complexes in the Lower Ring. Being an independent girl, Kaci would explore the city while her parents worked and this is when she found the zoo and began volunteering. At 17, she moved out of her parents' home into her own apartment, working as the store assistant for a curmudgeonly old porcelain merchant, Mr. Q. She never learned of his actual name as he insisted everyone called him that. She worked this job for 3 years until she was officially hired as Kenji's zoo assistant. Of course, this job in a free Ba Sing Se did not last long.

The barracks (glorified sheds) which Zak and his platoon slept in, like all Fire Nation barracks in Ba Sing Se's Lower Rings, were hastily thrown together in the small patches of "parks". Their barrack was put together on a 90 square foot patch of grass and sidewalk next to the merchant thoroughfare of Ba Sing Se which used to have an old cherry tree in the middle of it. Instead of building the barracks around the tree, the Fire Nation Army cut it down, with the exposed stump ending up in the middle of their barracks between their cots. Some of his men would play cards and arm wrestle on it like it was a table. Zak wished they didn't kill the tree as they reminded him of home, his wealthy estate having a row of cherry trees in the yard whose pink blossoms he would pick for his mother and grandmother every spring. Zak, as the commanding officer, had a "room" at the end of the barrack, which was just a thin plywood divider and he could hear everything his soldiers did and said. Only officers in the Lower Ring were forced to sleep in the same barracks as their commanding officer due to the limited space. Still though, Zak appreciated the privacy where he could wind down without scrutiny. Zak and his platoon woke up at dawn, bathed, put their uniforms on, and ate a bland breakfast of eggs and stale bread. Every morning his Tigerdillos would bitch about the food and conditions. Today it was Bingwen who had the honors. "Man, this is fucking ridiculous," said Bingwen, a surly corporal. "We're down here in the Lower Ring doing the dirty work and yet we also get this garbage treatment?" Zak couldn't help but internally agree and he knew that the soldiers in the Middle and Upper Rings were treated better just because of their environment, but he could not demonstrate this in front of his soldiers as their commanding officer. He said to Bingwen, "Just eat your food for the energy we will need today and all days, and do an excellent job. Excellence is noticed. If you want positive change, be positive." Bingwen smirked, but continued to eat his breakfast and his other soldiers began to eat with more purpose. Zak's mini motivational speeches always made his platoon smile and charged them up for a day of work. After breakfast, they marched to the opening in the wall to get their assignments from the Captain, who got them from the Major and so on. Zak has his 32 member platoon march in a specific formation. Zak leads at the front. The next row consisted of three, starting at the left was his platoon sergeant, Daisuke, in the middle was Sergeant Fang, and to the right was Corporal Bingwen. The next seven rows were four across and consisted entirely of firebender grunts and Medic Ling who was also a firebender (though not as practiced). This is the reason why Zak's Platoon was smaller than average. It was a smaller elite force of firebenders and the notion followed that there didn't need to be as many for effect. Zak's uniform, again, was an open-faced, spiked helmet. His platoon sergeant and sergeant had firebender face masks, but their face masks had taller spikes and angled eyeholes as compared to the masks of the remaining platoon. The medic had two green armbands, but still had the same basic firebender uniform. Zak marched his platoon about 5 blocks to the edge of the wall where Captain Aiguo, who oversaw platoons of the south side of the Lower Ring stayed. Capt. Aiguo was a large and jolly man who found a surprising amount of joys in the day to day work of occupying a foreign city of citizens who hated this. Whenever Zak arrived and approached his desk, a large smile would overtake the Captain who had a particular fondness for Zak whom he called, "Lieutenant Silence," mockingly. It's true. Zak was silent. There was never a stir of disagreement or questioning of any assignment that the Captain had ever given Zak since the occupation commenced. He was good at following orders. Today was no different. "Good morning Lieutenant _Silence_." Zak gives a customary subordinate bow and is handed the assignment packet from the Captain without any words uttered. Today's assignment was directly from the Major, who had heard of some rumblings of a resistance planning on destroying a large Fire Nation equipment storage on the outside of the wall. "This resistance is rumored to meet somewhere in the restaurant thoroughfare on the eastern side, Lieutenant," said the Captain. Zak read the assignment notes which said that they meet in the middle of the day in a "popular" restaurant to avoid drawing suspicion. It was the Tigerdillos job starting today to determine this restaurant, identify the resistance members, and arrest them for interrogation. The Captain asks Zak if he has any questions and, as usual, he shook his head, bowed, and went to his men who were being kept in silent formation by Platoon Sergeant Daisuke. Zak gave the packet a final glance, looked up at his men with his hands and the assignment packet behind his back. "Tigerdillos, starting today we are going after Earth Kingdom resistance members who wish to disturb the peace of this city. These people will try to do us harm and it is our job to bring them to Fire Nation justice. Look to your left and to your right. These are your fellow soldiers that you will look out for. If we all work together, for each other, and the Fire Nation, we will no doubt come out both victorious and unscathed. So let's roll." (Let's roll was a cheesy pun-based motto for his Tigerdillos given that the animal did in fact "roll up" into an armadillo-like ball). His twenty seven men cheered and roared in excitement. His platoon was amped for this assignment as it was the first time they were given something with a genuine purpose since the occupation began. Zak, who did not believe half of the words that just came out of his mouth, hated that he was a little excited too, the specific task being a breath of fresh air from the mindless patrolling he normally oversaw. Zak, however, was sympathetic to the plight of the citizens of Ba Sing Se and understands completely why a resistance was forming. Still though, he had a job to do and people to lead. His platoon would be transported to the Eastern side of the Lower Ring by three Komodo Rhino carriages. These carriages were large and intimidating made of mostly metal, with narrow horizontal slits to provide light, but also safety, with a large Fire Nation flame insignia plastered both on the sides and back of the carriage. Each could hold up to twelve men and any weaponry. Unlike most carriages, the driver, usually a cavalry officer, was on the Komodo Rhino rather than the carriage itself—the reason being that if it was attacked and the rhino severed from the carriage, the rhino would still be controllable and be able to provide some support for the troops inside. Zak's Tigerdillos load into the carriages with haste and they started to make their way to the restaurant thoroughfare, both hyped and nervous to snuff out some resistance members.

Kaci cannot sleep- the woes of the zoo wearing her down and keeping her from relaxing. Why should she be able to sleep soundly while the innocent zoo animals go to bed hungry and scared of the Fire Nation machines around them? Kaci can see light on the horizon. Dawn has ended another night and brought a new day in the currently Fire Nation occupied Ba Sing Se. She gets up, sparks a fire under her tea kettle, and begins to get ready. No work clothes for Kaci today, she was on a mission to get to the restaurant thoroughfare of the Lower Ring. This "mission assignment" came late yesterday after Kenji had already forcibly given her the next day off, telling her the day prior, "You being here and stressing about the animals not having food won't give the animals food. Take a day and go try to relax…if you can." Working outside of the main walls almost makes her and Kenji forget of what is occurring at the Fire Nation's hands inside of them. Kaci went to the market after work yesterday. While there, she noticed five non-bending Fire Nation soldiers intimidating an old man and harassing him into giving up his golden necklace. "Please no, this is a family heirloom," the man kept saying. The Fire Nation Army soldiers responded with, "well, we thank your family for their donation to the Fire Nation," and then snatched it off his neck and pushed him down to the ground, the frail old man scuffing his knees and hands in the process. Kaci was enraged by this, but even more enraged that there were scores of Ba Sing Se citizens who walked by and other Fire Nation troops who said nothing. Her rage did not go unnoticed. A skinny, pale man, with dark hair bumped into her. She was about to tear into him, but noticed that this man had left a small rolled up note in her hand. Kaci was smart and knew not to read this publicly, so she stowed the small scroll in her pocket. Finally, the Fire Nation soldiers had moved on, the poor old man still on the ground, she ran across the street to help him up. The man had tears in his eyes and blood on his palms, scraped from being forced down to the pavement. She said to the man, "I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Those thugs will pay for what they did one day." The look in the old man's eyes was one of admiration for her youthful spirit and hopefulness, but it quickly turned into despair. It was clear he did not believe that those thugs would get theirs. He said to Kaci, "the Avatar is dead, child. This is the world you will inherit." and he walked away. Kaci stared at the man as he disappeared into the crowd. In slight shock from the man's statement, she just stood there, looking around. She glanced at the market stands, their owners selling their products the same way they always had. She glanced at the citizens, busily going about their business just as they had before. The difference was the air of fear and scores of foreign soldiers marching up and down the streets in ugly black and red uniforms, with terrible machines, and frightening animals, maintaining their grip of control over the city. This is the world she would inherit? She despised this notion and suddenly wanted to start making a difference. She knew what the letter was and she made her way home to read it. She made it to her apartment, having glared at 37 Fire Nation soldiers along the way. She knew because she counted. She was surprised none stopped to harass her, but then she realized that they probably receive glares all day and punishing these people isn't worth their time when they could be _stealing jewelry from senior citizens._ Kaci enters her dingy apartment, lights a fire on her stove, eager to cook up some stir fry which today would actually have some eggs in it, which she bought at the market just prior to seeing the harassed old man. She gets out her wok, puts it over the fire, throws in some oil, garlic, then the eggs, and begins to chop her veggies. Cooking is a task that helps to calm Kaci and all she can think of is the fresh produce, humanely butchered meat, and delicious home-cooked meals of her childhood farm and how she used to help her mom cook. Her mother was such a good cook that neighbors who lived across the village would look forward to the dinner parties that Kaci's family would throw. Her family was well liked in their old village and their departure saddened many of its residents. Kaci wished her mom got a cooking job when they moved to the city, but none were available and her family needed money. With the eggs still a little runny, she throws in her veggies, some salt, soy sauce, and pepper. She stirs everything up for a few moments more, dumps everything into a big bowl and settles into her bed. Kaci looked around at her barren apartment. It had a stove, and pantry, a table and single chair, an open wooden box where she kept her clothing, a waste bucket, bathing tub, water bucket, and her hay-filled mattress on a slightly raised cot. She didn't mind it though. In her mind, homes were not for activities or extravagance, but for self-maintenance chores: sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing. Kaci dove into her stir fry. It was delicious and her mind was at such a surprising amount of peace that she nearly forgot about the note in her pocket. She put her bowl down and pulled the neatly rolled up mini scroll from her side pocket. It read: **你渴望改** **变美食吗 厌倦了同样的老辣辣的食物 来到盛大晚餐 我们的特别服务从中午开始赠送此优惠券以兑换特别商品**

"Do you long for a change in cuisine? Tired of the same old hot and spicy food? Come to Grand Diner! Our special is served starting at midday. Present this coupon to redeem a special item."

A little cryptic for sure and it confused Kaci at first, but she knew that the man wasn't just a marketing person for the restaurant. She was going to be at Grand Diner tomorrow to see what this was about.

Kaci gets ready for the day after a night of tossing and pondering, the light from the dawn casting strange shadows through the labyrinth of buildings of Ba Sing Se. The rays of sunlight from the morning always used to come a little later because of the giant walls of the city. Ever since the giant break in the wall was caused by the traitorous Dai Li agents, however, direct light makes its way into a 6 block wide strip of the city. Her apartment lies on the edge of this strip. She actually didn't hate this, even though this gave her immense guilt. She liked waking up with the sun; it reminded her of life on her farm. The only thing missing was the crow of a rooster-pig. She throws on her day clothes. On the bottom she wears khaki colored cotton capris that were tied at the calf and a pulled tight at her thin waist with a draw string and close-toed black leather shoes. Her top was two pieces: a thin-strapped sleeveless brown shirt and a light, ivory thin wrapped cotton shawl, her mom's. Her tea pot whistles. She removes it from the fire and pours into a small cup, and into a bowl of oats with sliced apples. She always thought she was weird that she would soften her oats with tea, but it made it all taste better. She ate her breakfast slowly, allowing morning to continue on a bit more before she left. She finished, places the bowl and cup in her half-filled water bucket, grabs her key, cinch bag, puts the small note in her pocket, and heads out the door on the way to the restaurant thoroughfare.


End file.
